Every stitch of this shawl was knit as a prayer was breathed for the one who would one day wear it on his or her lap or shoulders. My mother’s faithfulness over many years to lead a ministry that cares for people in their deepest points of need is yet another reason her life inspires me.
Prayer shawls
Hundreds of prayer shawls, carefully handcrafted, have been infused with prayers and delivered to the lonely, the sick, the grieving, and the dying. It is God’s creativeness given legs in Kingdom life.
Wrapping my mom in prayer
This shawl has stayed by my mom’s side through a hard year. It was a year of diagnosis, waiting, treatment, more waiting, setbacks, disappointing news, rallying, and decline. And like my beautiful mother, it has continually brought a sense of comfort. It is a reminder that God’s people hold each other up at all times in prayer and steady support. It is one way she worshiped in spirit and in truth.
Faithful care
We aren’t designed to journey alone. And my mom’s life of faithful care for others has knit that into my very fabric the way she has patiently and prayerfully knit it with yarn. As her own earthly journey nears its end, I pray I will remain faithful to her legacy as long as I have breath.
I haven’t led worship at my church for fourteen weeks. In fact, I’ve honestly barely used my voice to sing in all that time. It has been a season of silence for me, my worship so private and hidden from the world.
Worship in the quiet
I have worshiped more deeply and sincerely than ever before in the secret. No platform. No livestream. No lights. No one even singing, and yet, worship. In fact, I almost didn’t write this because it seems too public, but I feel prompted that someone else is worshiping in the secret too, and needs to be encouraged.
I have not been singing with my voice, but I have worshiped.
Making hot tea – worship.
Reminding of God’s presence – worship.
Choosing to laugh – worship.
Injecting pain meds – worship.
Processing hard news together – worship.
Motivating to try another step – worship.
Reminiscing – worship.
Changing bedding – worship.
Encouraging care workers – worship.
Holding weight when legs are weak – worship.
Not hiding from the reality of death – worship.
Telling that same story again – worship.
Choosing intentional conversation – worship.
Serving the vulnerable
Many people serve the vulnerable every single day, and worship Jesus through their service. But for the church worship leader, it can be easy to get so caught up in arrangements and production and scheduling and the skill of it all that our worship rings hollow.
I needed these fourteen Sundays. And I may need the next fourteen as the Lord reframes my perspective of true worship. For now, I choose to fix my eyes on Jesus and stay present in each moment as we walk my mom through her twilight days.
It’s here that I worship in spirit and in truth.
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
Not that long ago, I wrote about how Your Joyful Heart is a Weapon to Fight for Your Joy. We can do some serious battle in song. I’m a musician, so this comes naturally to me. But sometimes it is difficult for people to actually connect the dots, to tie their story into the lyrics they are singing. It takes practice to get beyond the melody, and get in to the meat of the words, allowing them to begin to be your own life song. It takes practice to sing your thanks.
So for this week’s edition of Fun Friday, I want to help you sing your thanks. I want to help those of you who have trouble relating real life to the songs you sing on Sunday morning. This weekend, a fun (and valuable) goal for you can be to find your song. And then to sing it. Loudly!
What’s Your Theme?
So what should you sing about? Well, first you need to figure out what your current life theme is. Start by asking yourself some questions, and take time to really answer them.
What is going on in my life right now?
What are my areas of celebration?
Where are my biggest needs?
What hurdles am I facing?
What’s His Character?
Now that you’ve asked yourself some probing questions, try these:
What do I know is true about God’s character?
Where do I need to see Him work in my life?
Where have I seen Him work in my life before?
Why should I trust Him?
Then start searching out some study materials about the characteristics of God you have seen at work lately, or that you really need to see now. Narrow it down to one or two qualities of God’s character.
Find Your Jam
Then take that theme into a song search. If you want help searching songs by theme, check out Praise Charts. Their detailed list can help you narrow down some songs before searching your music player for them. And whether you want to use Spotify, SiriusXMEdit, Apple Music, Amazon MusicEdit, or another method to listen, what you want is to find a song that matches your current life theme.
Now Sing!
Once you’ve found a song or two that fits your current situation, put it on repeat! 🙂 It takes time for songs and stories to harmonize! What do you hear? Is this your song? Pray through the lyrics and allow God’s Spirit to speak to you about how He is moving in you. Study how your life is woven in its storyline. Sing it as a petition, and sing it in dependence. Allow Him to remind you what to thank Him for, and declare it as your own praise. Sing your thanks, and sing it loud!
So if you decide to trust me here at Joy Let Loose, and to find your jam for Friday Fun, you can spend the whole weekend singing your thanks. Because song is so powerful, I believe you’ll enter next week a little more joyful, and a little more confident in God’s character. Your joyful heart really is a weapon to fight for your joy. And it’s Friday – so fight at the top of your lungs!
It has been ten weeks since I launchedJoy Let Loose, and I’m so thankful for reader engagement so far! The journey to the place that joy lives, so it spills out and impacts people around us is one so many of us crave, and it is possible through Jesus Christ. Our God is a joy-giver!
At this ten week point, I re-assessed to make sure I’m on track with my writing to convey what I intend to. I decided to run a word search through Wordle to get a visual representation of what we have been thinking about over the last ten weeks together. I was pleased with the results, and affirmed that I have been remaining in the intended lane for this blog.
The Focus of Joy Let Loose
Other Places Joy Lives
Thankfully, joy is more than simply the subject of my blog. It is something I am contending for in all areas of my life. I am thankful to have opportunity to write for other venues as well, lending my voice to different aspects of life. At the end of February, one of my articles appeared with Annesley Writers, whose monthly theme was “Beauty”. I found it a challenge to write this article because it sits so close to home, and is something I tend to keep in the shadows.
You see, gains and losses have been a pattern for my whole life as I’ve struggled to be… enough. Malicious, the lie taunts me with forked tongue and tempts me to trust its razor sharp voice as it slices me open again and again. You are fat. You are ugly. You are less than. Tears sting and salt snakes its way down my cheeks and the familiar ache creeps into my jaw.
Head on over to Annesley to read this article, Steel. While you are there, please browse other authors’ writings. Because you will find that joy lives there!
Teaching Worship
Next week I have the opportunity to teach a three-day intensive course about worship to people currently pursuing ordination. This is another place joy lives for me. After all, I love the discoveries people make when they dig deep in to the theology and philosophy of corporate worship, and begin to see our patterns of worship inside the larger context of God’s Story. We need to be reminded again and again of God’s faithfulness through all of time. William White says, “We are a forgetful people. We need storytellers. We need someone to lay the drama of God’s love before us. We need to be reminded of the uncommon grace of God.:
Please pray for me and for the students I teach. Because I want God to be visible, and celebrated for all of His goodness?
Where Your Joy Lives
Some of you have been faithful readers for the last ten weeks. You’ve taken the Morning Joy Challenge, contributed ideas of Family Traditions, and begun praying the morning prayers, or memorizing Joy Scriptures. Thank you for coming along with me! Others may have stumbled on this post through Pinterest or through a variety of blogging groups I belong to. Regardless how you got here, you are on your own journey, and I’m confident it includes a desire for joy. God has made us to discover His joy, and let it loose! While I’m busy finalizing my teaching curriculum, and then pouring out to ministry students next week, I would love to hear from you!
Please Let Me Know!
What aspects of joy are you focusing on in your life?
Are there questions about the joy journey that I can address in upcoming posts?
Will you share your living joy testimony with our readers at Joy Let Loose?
Please add your voice to the comments below. I will be eager to respond!
We need to know if we are starving for joy. One of the other places I write is Seedbed’s Worship Design Collective, where worship leaders encourage others who slug it out in the trenches of the Church, week in and week out. Several months ago, as I was discovering God calling me to a new journey, I wrote an article for the collective about seven things Scripture shows us about joy. Though the original article was addressed specifically to worship leaders, the truths within are broadly applicable, and will serve as the foundation for upcoming posts on Joy Let Loose.We absolutely must discover if we are starving for joy.
Starving for Joy: June 7, 2016
Just a few short days ago, Chewbacca went viral as Candice Payne, clad in his toy mask, exploded on the Internet. In a matter of just 48 hours, her live Facebook video skyrocketed to nearly 150 million views, as people belly laughed it across the world. Just two days in, she had already appeared with numerous internationally acclaimed networks and personalities. What is it that this lady—a fellow worship leader—demonstrated, alone in her car after a trip to Kohl’s, that we all loved so much? And what is it that we worship leaders can glean from Candice bursting into our lives?
We hunger for joy.
150 million views of a gleeful woman in a mask is a good indicator that people are hungry; people watched and shared Candice’s video because her evident joy sparked something in them. If this is true, then I would suggest that the people who file into our sanctuaries on weekend days and nights are similarly hungry. They long to know joy, but they are looking to others—perhaps to us—to provide it.
